The Great Migration Dbq Essay

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During 1910-1970 the great migration was taking place, which was the movement of southern African American’s to the north/northern cities. The great migration was an event that seemed as if it was unstoppable and that it was going to happen. In the South African American’s faced racial discrimination, sharecropping, bad working conditions, low wages, racial segregation and political detriments. This is all supported by documents 1-4. The great migration was an event which helped improve the conditions for African Americans in America. Starting off before ww1 majority of northern blacks were manual laborers, domestic servant or both. In the south most were sharecropper’s manual laborers and domestic servants. This was until the event of ww1 causing a change in economy to a war economy needing industrial weapons opening up manufacturing jobs in the north. The wages for these jobs were higher than agriculturally based wages in the south. This is supported by document #1 which states “it is estimated that 400,000 African Americans took manufacturing jobs in northern cities before the end of World War 1”. Document 1 also states “A …show more content…

Their voting rights were restricted by them having to pass difficult literacy tests, pay a large poll tax, own property or were threatened with violence as according to Document #4. African Americans had been separated and had their voice in politics taken away from them by these racial and discriminatory laws. The north was a much better place for African Americans because they would have more of a voice and not have to deal with the intensity of laws such as Jim Crow or deal with poll tax. In document #4 it states “Not having a voice in government was one of the reasons Eddie McDonald migrated to Chicago, Illinois”. African Americans were going to the north to have a voice in government as well as the other benefits of the

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